Surgical drapes made of cloth have been in use for a number of years. These cloth surgical drapes are reusable, however they require laundering and careful sterilization after previously being used.
The heavy weight of cloth drapes can cause the drape to slide, if imbalanced, away from the incision area. The size and weight of cloth surgical drapes can make them difficult to position and to secure in position once it is attained. This tendency of a cloth drape to slip from its position and the requirement for means for fastening the drape to the patient's body are distinct disadvantages of such a drape. Additionally, significant expense can be involved in sterilization.
Disposable surgical drapes have also been employed and are known in the prior art. Because they are disposable, the need for sterilization after use is obviated. The need remains, of course, for the maintaining of their sterility prior to their use.
Disposable surgical drapes have been difficult to maintain in place due to a lack of weight. As a result, the drape might be permitted to slip away from the incision area. The area is, thereby, exposed to contamination. Use of heavier disposable drapes would help minimize this problem, however they would decrease the economic advantages associated with disposability.
The introduction of adhesive backing to disposable drapes has helped to eliminate the slippage problem. Prior art devices employ peel-off paper backing for exposing the adhesive on the under-side of the surgical drape to the patient's body.
A problem with the prior adhesive backed disposable surgical drapes has been the potential for contamination which results from the need for human intervention to peel off the paper backing. Contamination of the surgical site can occur during the taking of this action.
Positioning of adhesive on the surgical drape is important. Where the disposable surgical drape has the adhesive, peel-off backing in the center of the drape, optimal use cannot be made of the drape. Application of the adhesive substance to the periphery of a window formed in the surgical drape allows for the secure positioning of the drape with the window at the incision area.
In the prior art, drainage troughs were employed for removal of bodily fluids from the incision area. Such removal was effected by osmosis and interior tubing in combination with a suction device.
Prior surgical drapery has, primarily, been flat sheets of either cloth or paper. When the incision area has been on a patient's limb, the drape material was arranged as well as it could be around the generally cylindrical body limb.
Another problem in the prior art is providing the ability to convey bodily fluids secreted at the incision area away from that area as quickly and as sanitarily as possible. Absent adequate provision for conveying means, such fluids tend to saturate the area and provide a growth medium for bacteriologicial growth.
The present invention addresses these problems associated with the prior art and provides for a new and improved tubular-shaped, disposable surgical drape with a pull-tab covered adhesive for securing the drape to the patient's body. Additionally, it provides a conduit for removal of bodily fluids from the incision area.